The In-line Stopping Techniques File

NOTE: This list is arranged in order of increasing difficulty as per my
experience. Your experiences WILL undoubtedly vary from mine. This list
does not purport to be the definitive list of stopping techniques, but
it does strive to be as complete and descriptive as possible.

It is not expected that everyone will learn, or even want to learn, all
the methods discussed in this file. It is simply a catalog of techniques to
choose from. Some techniques require more flexibility, some require more
finesse, and some require more guts 8-)

The basic repretoire of stopping techniques includes the brake-pad,
the T-stop, spinouts, and the power slide. This file should help you learn
those basics and more. The basics should always be learned first, but once
you progress beyond them, you'll likely want to learn different and/or more
advanced techniques. This compilation should help guide you through this
progression.

BEGINNER LEVEL

Most beginner skaters should be able to handle the following set of stopping
methods. These techniques keep both feet on the ground throughout the stop,
and don't require fully independent leg action.

If the path you're skating on has grass or packed dirt you can just
skate off the path onto the grass/dirt. This will reduce your speed somewhat
but watch out for the sudden change in speed! (hop-hop-hop-hop-hop). If you
are truly out of control, at least you'll tumble in the grass and not on the
road.

To do this stop, simply skate towards a wall (or any reasonably stationary
object, really) and use your arms to absorb the impact. At low speeds, this
should be quite safe (make sure you turn your head to the side so as not to
smash your face).

You may or may not bang your skates, depending on your speed and how you hit.
The key is to use your arms as cushioning springs (like doing a standing
push-up.) One way to practice this is to stand a few feet from a wall (with
your skates on). Now fall forward on your hands against the wall. You should
be able to bounce slightly, while still avoiding banging your head. The
faster your approach, the less bounce you can expect.

A variation on the wall stop is the billiard ball stop. Instead of
stopping against an object, use a fellow skater to push off and
transfer your momentum to them. To be safe, warn the receiving
person about your approach. It works well on flat surfaces and at
low to moderate speeds. It's not recommended at high speeds and
especially on people you don't know 8-)

The brake-pad is subject to much debate amongst skaters. Many people
with ice skating and rollerskating backgrounds find the brake in the way, in
the wrong place, or simply ineffective. However, for those of you who
actually take the time to learn it properly, the brake-pad becomes a very
versatile piece of equipment. Here are some of the benefits:

you can use it to stop, even at very high speeds

it allows you to keep both skates on the ground while stopping (good for keeping your balance)

you can maintain a narrow profile (good for high traffic areas where cars or bicycles might be passing you)

you can still steer

the sound of braking can often alert others to your presence

the brake-pad is the most cost-effective technique there is so far for in-lines

To learn how to use the brake-pad, first coast with both skates shoulder-width
apart. As you coast, scissor your feet back and forth a few times to get used
to the weight shift. To apply the brake, scissor your skate so that your
braking skate is out in front. Lift the toe of your brake skate and press
with the heel too. Your body weight is centered and even slightly on your
back skate when you're just learning it. The key is a straight back and bent
knees.

If you have trouble balancing or find your braking ankle a little weak, you
can try the following trick: form a triangle with your legs (from the knee
down to your skates) and the ground. This means putting your back knee either
right behind or next to, the brake-foot knee to form that triangle.

Eventually you'll want to be able to stop at high speeds. Basically, the more
pressure you use on the brake pad the faster you stop. Maximum stopping power
is achieved by putting your entire body weight onto the brake by lifting your
back foot, and leaning onto the brake. Note that you will still need to have
one wheel on the ground (the rear wheel of your brake skate). When you lean
back on the brake, you'll need that single wheel to be your pivot.

This takes some practice but is very effective. It is possible to stop
within 15-20 ft even when going over 20 mph. You may still want to keep
the other skate on the ground for balance, however.

Note that the amount of leverage (the amount of stopping power you have), is
partially dependent on how worn your brake is. A half-worn brake will provide
better leverage than either a new brake or a worn-out brake. Some people saw
off part of the bottom of new brakes to avoid the annoying breaking-in period.

One important point to keep in mind when using the brake-pad: You can still
steer while braking. Just keep the brake-pad on the ground and pivot on your
heel wheel slightly to go the direction you want. This is very useful while
going down a very narrow and curvy path or while trying to avoid curbs,
pedestrians, parked cars, trees, and the like.

A brake-pad generally runs from $3 to $6 depending on what type
you buy. Compare this with wheels which are $5.50 or more each
and the freebie stops: runouts, wind-braking, billiard ball stop
(freebies since you're not wearing anything down). Wheels are
expensive, and the freebie stops are infrequently available, if at all,
for the large majority of skating situations. The brake should be your
standard stop, provided that you learn it well.
(see "Wile E. Coyote" stops for a rather interesting variation)

For a low-speed rolling stop, point your heels inward (for backwards) or
your toes together (for forwards) and let your skates bang into each other.
This might throw you in the direction you're going (depending on your speed),
so take care to be prepared to lean forward or backwards to compensate.

You can do a more exaggerated snowplow by spreading your legs out past
shoulder-width and pointing your skates inward or outwards as before (and you
won't bang your skates together.) Here, use leg strength to press your inner
edges against the ground, and you'll slow down appreciably. This can work
even at very high speeds.

INTERMEDIATE LEVEL

Skating off pavement onto
grass. You can weave from pavement to grass and back to
pavement to control your speed, especially when going downhill.
To stop completely just stay on the grass.

As you hit the grass, knees are kept bent, and one foot is ahead of
the other. Nearly all weight is distributed on the foot that will hit
the grass first, and you keep that leg real stiff, as if plowing a path
for the trailing leg to follow. Very little weight is on the trailing
leg. Muscles in the trailing leg are relaxed. The only function of
the trailing leg is stability and balance. The leading leg does most
of the work.

Beginners are often intimidated by this procedure, but it is really a
very simple physical feat. The hard part, if any, is simply understanding
mentally what it is you are trying to do, as I explained.

This is a lot of fun, too. I like to hit the grass full speed, and then
skate as far down a slope as possible before the grass stops me.

One important requirement is that the ground should be dry. Wet
dirt or grass will clog your wheels and your skates will also sink
into mud (yuck).

This is where you
skate into a spin to transfer your linear momentum into angular
momentum. To do this, you sort of stop-n-hold one skate at an
angle to act as the pivot foot and the other traces a circle around it
(and you). It may help to think of having each skate trace
concentric circles, with the pivot skate tracing the much smaller
inner one. The pivot skate will be turning on its outside edge, while
the outer skate will be on its inside edge.

A spinout with your skates in a
bent spread eagle position (i.e., heels pointed towards each other,
skates at slightly less than 180 degrees). There is no pivot foot
here, instead both your skates trace the arc.

There are inside and outside spread eagles, where you skate on both
inside or both outside edges. The above paragraph describes the
inside spread eagle.

A sustained outside spread eagle is more of an artistic skating move
than a practical stop, although I use it occasionally to stop on flat
surfaces.

NOTE that all types of spinouts require a fair amount of room.
Your forward motion is quite suddenly changed to angular motion
so I'd recommend this mainly for low traffic areas where you won't
have people running into you from behind when you do the
spinout.

This stop works both forwards and
backwards at higher speeds. I call this the crossover stop because
your feet are held in the position of a spread-out crossover. In this
stop, you're going to be arcing to one side. The harder and sharper
you turn, the faster you stop. If you tend to trip on your skates,
spread your skates farther apart (forwards-backwards).

The braking pressure comes from the turn. The harder you press
with the outer edge of your back skate, the faster you stop. So if
you're turning left, your right skate is in front, the left skate is
almost right behind it (so that all your wheels are in line). Press on
the outer edge of your left skate (your back skate) and on the inner
edge of your right skate.

There is also the inverted crossover stop where your feet positions
are reversed: so you turn left with your left foot forward and right
foot back (and vice versa for right turns). Watch ice hockey players
just after play has stopped. More often than not, the circle around
in the inverted crossover position.

Both crossover stops are good for high speed stops but make sure
you have plenty of open space.

For skiers, this maps over
very nicely. This is more of a speed control technique rather than a
stop, but it's very useful to know. Explaining slalom turns can take
an entire book in itself, so I will merely suggest that you find a skier
or a ski book to show you how.

One way to practice this is to find a nice gentle slope with plenty of
space at the bottom, set up cones in a line, and weave through the
cones.

Wind-braking is more for speed-control than outright stopping (although
on windy days, wind-braking can stop you). Just stand up, spread your arms
out and catch the air like a sail. You'll probably need to lean forwards
slightly, to counter the force of the wind.

ADVANCED LEVEL

This next set of stops require good independent leg control. These
advanced stops will require you to be skating only one foot for
some portion of the technique.

This stop uses your wheels as a source of friction. To
do the T-stop, place one skate behind you, nearly perpendicular to
your direction of travel. Bend a little in both knees to drag your
wheels. You should think more of dragging the heel than the toe.
Apply the braking pressure to your heel. If you drag the toe too
much, you will end up spinning around. Keep your weight mainly
on your skating (front) foot. As you learn to stop at higher speeds
you will apply more downward pressure to the back skate (but your
weight is still on the front skate).

NOTE: One particular phenomenon to avoid in the T-stop, or any
wheel-dragging stop (such as the toe drag) is the "flats". If you T-
stop or toe drag such that the wheels do not roll as your drag, you
will end up with a flattened wheel which will not roll smoothly at all.
In effect, ruining your wheel(s).

Similar to the T-stop except you drag only the toe
wheel instead of all four or five wheels. Unlike the T-stop it's not
critical to keep the skate perpendicular to your line of travel. In
fact, you're free to drag the wheel anywhere in a 180+ degree arc
behind you. Also, your toe can be pointed into the ground at
pretty much any angle. (If you have old wheels, the toe position is
a good place to put them if you want to avoid shredding your good
wheels.)

The toe drag is better than the T-stop in that you wear down only
one wheel, and more importantly, you are also allowed much better
control over steering, since you can still stop effectively even if the
drag wheel rolls too much. The toe drag can stop you even when at
cruising speeds, although at significantly longer breaking distance
than the brake-pad or the T-stop since you are dragging only one
wheel.

This is a T-stop when you're rolling
backwards. There are two ways to perform this stop. The first way
is to stop by dragging the outside edge of your skate (i.e., toe
pointed outward). The harder way is to point your toe inward,
much like a reverse New York stop (see New York stop).

These three stepping stops are essentially advanced low-speed stops
("advanced" since they require good independent control over each
skate). They could also be called "pushing" stops, since most of the
braking action is done by pushing a skate against your motion.
Many advanced skaters will do this intuitively, but I will detail them
here for completeness.

This is like when someone pushes you from the front while you are
wearing shoes. One foot automatically steps back to keep you from falling
backwards. On skates then, while rolling backwards, you simply put one
skate behind you, 90 degrees to the other skate, and hold it there so that
your body doesn't roll any further. This is basically a very low-
speed power stop/power slide, but without the sliding and scraping action of
the wheels (see the Power Stop).

The faster you are moving, the closer you are to doing a true power
stop. This may be a good method to learn the power stop,
gradually building up speed.

A low-speed stop very similar
to the backwards stepping stop except you're rolling forwards. This time you
plant your skate 90 degrees out in front of, or right next to the rolling
skate. Your front heel will be pointing inwards (it's probably easier for
most people to keep the toe pointed outward here). This is especially useful
at curbs, like just before you accidentally roll into an intersection, in
crowded indoor places, or if you just want to get a little closer to people
you're talking with.

This stop should halt you immediately. Once you plant your foot,
your body should stop moving forward. You may find it easier if
you bend slightly at the waist and knee to give your skate a better
angle to grab.

You can also use this stop in a sort of shuffling fashion: stop, roll a
little, stop, roll a little, etc., until you get to precisely where you
want
to be.

This is a one-footed spinout with an
accompanying toe-drag on the other foot. The toe drag will be in
the inside of the spinout. So for a right-foot toe-drag spinout, you
will be carving a right turn. It takes a bit more balance and strength
and will shred your toe wheel a lot. The more pressure on the toe,
and the sharper/harder you carve your turn, the faster you stop.

At maximum effectiveness, it can stop you very quickly. The
skating foot will be nearly doing a power slide (see
Power Stop) and the dragging foot will be doing a very hard toe-drag.
Done correctly at low to medium speeds, it takes up at most a sidewalk's
width. At downhill speeds, expect to take up most of a car lane.

NOTE that hitting a crack or rock during this stop really bites since
you've got most of your weight on one skating foot. Look for any
debris or holes ahead of you and be prepared.

For this spinout, just plant one of
your heel wheels on the ground out in front of you and spin
around it. The only tricky part is that the pivot heel wheel may roll
a little, so keep some downward pressure on it. It probably helps to
keep your pivot leg straight and slightly locked to help stabilize the
pivot.

A variation on heel-drag spinouts is to use your brake-pad as the
pivot.

This stop looks pretty neat when going backwards, although you
should be careful to protect your knees if you have to abort. To
perform this backwards, start a heel-drag stop (you're skating
backwards), carve the skating foot behind and to the inside, and you
should spin around the heel wheel/brake.

You approach the curb at around 90
degrees (i.e., straight on) and lift your toes enough to clear the
curb. This should jam your wheels and runners into the curb. You
should be prepared to compensate for the sudden change in your
motion.

An alternative curb ramming stop is to do a spinout near the curb
and ram the back of your skate into the curb.

Both these techniques cause quite a bit of shock to your skates
(especially at high speeds) so if you really love your skates you
may not want to do this stop too often 8-)

This is one of the most
effective stops, and also one of the hardest. To do this stop, you
should be able to skate forwards and backwards well, and also be
able to flip front-to-back quickly.

There appear different approaches to learning the power stop. The
end result should be the same, or nearly so, but both are detailed
below. It is left to the reader to decide which one is easier to
follow.

One way:

You can piece the power stop together by combining two things:

flip front to backward.

place one foot behind you and push the entire row of wheels at a very sharp angle into the ground.

You can practice this by skating backwards, gliding, and then with
nearly all your weight on one foot, bring the other foot behind you,
perpendicular to your direction of travel (see the
Backward Stepping stop).

You should start out doing this while traveling slowly. Your wheels
should scrape a little. If they catch, you need to hold your braking
skate at a sharper angle. Once you get this down, you can practice
flipping front-to-back, coast a little, and then stop. Eventually, the
combination becomes one smooth move: just get the braking leg
extended as soon as you flip.

You can use any flip (mohawk, 3-turn, toe-pivot, etc.) for this stop.
This stop is good for hockey, and a good stop when going
backwards (especially at higher speeds). A power-stop using a
jump turn is called a chop stop (see following section).

The other way:

The second method involves one continuous motion instead of
two: Skate forward on an outside edge, while extending the free
leg to the side. All weight is on the skating leg. The free leg is
dragged along the ground. Now sharpen the turn on the outside
edge of the skating leg (with its knee greatly bent), and swing the
free leg in front. This continuous transition causes the skating leg
to turn, so it's now skating in reverse.

The key is to have all the weight on the skating leg. If you place
any weight on the free leg, you will go into a spin and lose
control.

Some prefer this method because you do not need to go into a
complete power slide to stop. At any point in the continuous
motion, you can abort if something is going wrong. Only at
higher speeds is it necessary to completely turn the skating foot.
There is less risk of catching the free leg on an uneven surface
because it is already extended and dragging before you swing
around.

For skating forward or backward at low to
moderate speeds. This is much like the hockey stops done on ice
except, since you can't shave asphalt, you need to jump and turn
both skates and hips perpendicular to the direction of travel. Land
with the skates at an angle (like in the power stop) and push your
wheels against the ground. To maintain balance you can keep one
skate mainly beneath you, while the other goes out forward to stop
you.

Most of the shredding will be done on the lead skate, where the
inside of your lead leg should make a sharp angle against the
ground.

Basically what this is, is a power stop using a jump turn.

The jump isn't so much for air time as for lifting your skates off the
ground so you can reposition them sideways. The lower the jump
you can get away with, the less off balance you should be when you
land. However, if you don't jump high enough you may not be able
to place your lead skate at a sufficient angle. Caution should be
used even more so in this stop than in others.

The particulars of the jump aren't crucial. You can lead with one
foot followed by the other, and land in that order; or jump and land
with both feet at once. Pick whatever style you're most comfortable
with.

Harder than even the power stop, the New York stop is
mainly a power stop but you don't turn your gliding foot! It doesn't
appear that just anyone can perform this stop, since it seems to
require quite a bit of knee flexibility.
L = the track left by the left skate, R = ditto by the right skate

------ direction of travel --- >
L---------------------- |
This stop requires your knee to be twisted inward (not a natural
position, by far), so if you can't do it, I wouldn't say it's a big loss
since it seems to have above average potential to cause injury if
done wrong.

This stop requires brakes on both skates and is very reminiscent of
cartoon charaters, Wile E. Coyote in particular 8-), when they stop
on their heels after going very, very, VERY fast (meep meep! 8-).

Once you've got some stops perfected, the next thing you might want to
try is a sequence or combination of several stops. These are definitely
more fun and a bit more showy. These are some of the random combination
stops that I do. You can easily make up your own. (Sequences are denoted
with "->" and combos with "+")

S-stop

Crossover stop -> turn opposite direction -> toe-drag spinout. So for
example, you can crossover stop to the left, ride your left skate and do a
toe drag (right toe pivot) while turning to the right to complete the
S-pattern.

glide -> reverse feet positions -> brake-pad. The effect is that of
shuffling your feet quickly and stopping. (Glide: a heel-toe glide, one
skate out, and one skate back; use only the back toe and front heel wheels.
The back skate should be the one with the brake since the assembly gets
in the way on the front skate)

Related Topics

Falling should be one of your last resort techniques, but everyone
falls some time, so it's a good and safe thing to know. Falling can
be practiced at low speeds to get used to the idea that indeed, you can
plop on your guards and pads, and come away safe as houses.

One of the less graceful and more painful ways to stop is to
wipeout into a face plant or another nasty, bloody occurrence. I
daresay no one does this "stop" voluntarily. These stops work
vicariously: If you see someone else do it...you're likely to stop or
slow down too 8-)

At low speeds, a better (and less painful) falling-stop is to
collapse your body in a way so that the primary scraping areas are
the knee pads and your wrist guards/gloves. Bend your knees, fall
on your knee pads and follow by falling on your wrist guards.
Keep your wrists loose since there is still some risk of injury. See
the collision section below.

If you tend to fall backwards, your rear-end will probably be your
biggest cushion (just how big, depends on you 8-). You should try
to spread out the shock to your arms and over as much body area
as possible (in general)...the less directly on your wrists and elbows,
probably the better. NOTE however, that your tailbone is, after all,
located in your duff and a hard fall at too sharp an angle will either
bruise or fracture/break the tailbone.

At high speeds, when you desperately need to stop, an outright
collapse on your protection gear may not be enough. High speed
falls are best when you take the brunt of the force with the entire
body, save for the head (besides, you're wearing your helmet,
right?)

Rolling with the fall is a key to reducing the force of impact. So if
you happen to be careening down a hill, if possible, turn sideways
to your direction of travel and fall uphill (to keep you from
tumbling further down the hill). When you hit, keep your body
loose, with hands up near your face or over your head. With luck,
and no other dangers eminent (such as approaching 18-wheelers or
rolling off a cliff), you should be able to stand up, thank your
favorite deity, wipe yourself off, and go take a lesson in skating
safety and control.

COLLISIONS WITH STATIONARY OBJECTS: Hopefully you will never ever have to
use a collision as a means to stop, but if you ever do, keep your limbs bent
and your body relaxed. Act like a big shock-absorber and cushion your contact
with bending of the arms and legs. Locked limbs will only increase the shock
going into your joints causing likely ligament/tendon tears or other damage.

Bottom line

Practically speaking, all the stops that require dragging the wheels
will put a bigger dent in your wallet since wheels cost a bundle. If
you don't use your brake-pad, harder wheels may slow down the
wear on your wheels.

Keep one foot steady (if you are better at right-handed cross-overs, this
should probably be your left foot) and do more exaggerated shorter movements
with the other foot. Push the foot out quite hard (with toe pointing
inwards slightly) while putting most weight on the other foot. I find
it easier to use the front wheels on my pushing foot. When pulling the
foot back in, do not try to lift it, just pull it in slowly. Don't try
to create motion from the inward pull. Motion should be from the out-push
only.

This is where you start trying hills, corners, crossovers, stairs,
or whatever else takes you fancy.

From: grr@crunch.commodore.com (George Robbins)
There are several different ideas on the best way to get started with
backwards skating, which means you tend to get a lot of responses, but
no agreement.

1) Start by pushing off a wall or fence, or turning from forward to
backward while rolling. Just coast until you feel secure with
the general idea. A helmet isn't a bad idea, by the way!

2) Get your posture/balance right - your body should be upright, with your
knees bent - if you lean forward while skating, this will seem like
leaning backwards. If you lean forward you'll find yourself dancing
on your toe wheels and then your nose.

3) Get your feet at a normal track width - not neccessarily clicking heels,
but less than shoulder width. Many folk spread out when the feel insecure,
but you can't "stroke" from that position.

4) At this point you can fool around a little - you can turn by leaning
or keep yourself moving with a "sculling" motion - moving both feet
out-in-out-in as if tracing coke-bottle curves.

5) Next, you need to get comfortable with rolling on one foot, so that you
can be pushing with the other. Just pick up one foot - half an inch
is fine - and roll on the other. This will require that you get the
rolling foot centered under your weight! (see 2 above). Practice some
one-foot gliding and turns.

6) Finally, you are ready to stroke - just push one leg out and to the
side while you roll on the other, then at the end of the stroke, pick
up that skate and set it back alongside the other. Alternate feet,
and as you get the hang of it, you'll find that you can maintain
and build speed.

7) Expect it to take a while for you to get comfortable, just try a
little backwards action each time you go out to skate. You also
want to get in the habit of looking over your shoulder to see where
you're going, looking only at where you've been leads to surprises.

8) There an alternate method of learning to stroke, which goes from
sculling with both feet to sculling with one at a time and then
getting a more powerful push with that foot. This may lead more
naturally to the Hockey wide-track "C-cut" backward stride, where
you roll/slide the foot back instead of picking it up, but that's
more for quick maneuvering, not speed/distance skating.

Skating Downhills
(and surviving!)

by Tony Chen

For whatever reason that you're tackling downhill skating (you want to
cross-train for skiing, you like the speed, there's no other way around,
etc.), you should never take it for granted that you can just "pick it up".
Otherwise, the paramedics might be the ones doing the picking up (of the
pieces of your shredded body).

Note that skating downhill can easily exceed 30-35mph. Skaters have been
clocked at over 75mph, so downhill skating should NEVER be treated lightly.
Even if you're a seasoned skater you have to keep your mind and body on
the hill. It only takes a small pebble or crack to toss you into a tree
or car.

Time for an anecdote, to make my point:

Back in 1992, while I was still at Princeton, some of my
skating buddies and I rented skates for a whole group of our other friends
who didn't have skates. We went over to a short campus road that was nice
and flat so that everyone could practice their skating. After maybe 15
minutes of zooming back and forth on that stretch of asphalt, we decided to
take the whole group down to the wide-open backlot behind the gym.

One thing we forgot about: the only way to the gym was downhill on the
main campus road. As the group turned onto the main road (some on the
sidewalk grass, others hanging on to the better skaters) one skater started
rolling down, ever so slowly. By the time she was pointed fully downhill,
she was already going fast enough to be beyond her control level.

She continued accelerating for 20 or 30 yards, calling out for help.
The road went by a dorm, so there was no grassy areas nearby. Nothing
was nearby for grabbing. I saw what was happening and sprinted to the main
road and then down the hill after her. I had to get her to grab my arm, and
then I stomped on the brake. After a few seconds of brake screeching, we
finally stopped.

Okay, happy ending, no one hurt, and all that. The point is, it doesn't
take much to get out of control when you're going downhill. My friend was
probably only going 10 mph, but when you feel out of control it SEEMS like
50mph.

Downhill skating should be attempted only after you've learned some of
the basic skating skills: turns, braking, and balance. Braking means
not only the heel brake, but alternative speed control methods like
the T-stop, slaloming, toe-drag, and others. If you don't know
how to control your speed, the ground hitting your face at 30mph will do
it for you, so take your pick 8-)

There are 6 main components for downhill skating:

Safety and your gear

Safety and the road

Safety in your mind

Braking ability and power

Speed control

Relax!

1. Safety and your gear

Although you should be wearing your helmet even for non-hill skating,
it goes double and triple for downhills. Wiping out at even 15-20mph can
cause major road rash and brain damage, so wear those pads!

2. Safety and the road

All the skating equipment in the world may not help if the hill you're
skating on is pothole-ridden, debris-covered, or just downright bumpy.
Make sure you scout a hill on foot so that you know what to expect. If
you're in a car, get out and walk. Your car will make the road seem
deceptively smooth. Your skate wheels will feel every bump and crack,
so take the time to know what you're getting into.

3. Safety and your mind

Even if you've got great equipment and scouted the hill, it won't make
a difference if you go out and skate like a reckless maniac. If you know
that there is occasional car traffic, you have to keep your eyes and ears
open. If a car is about to pass you, get narrow, near the curb, and let
them know you see them. Know where there are stop lights, intersections,
and pedestrian crossings so that you'll be prepared.

It helps if you've got other skaters watching out for traffic, both downstream
and upstream. Not that I'm advocating that you have hordes of skaters
on a hill, but if you're going to be skating downhill with others,
watch out for each other.

4. Braking ability and braking power:

First, I would suggest a lot of practice learning to stop quickly
using only your brake skate. But before you try any of this, you must
be comfortable using the heel brake! If you're not, practice using
the heel brake first, even if it takes a few days or a week or even a month.
Trust me -- braking won't be any easier to learn while you're zooming down a
hill dodging cars. It has got to be so ingrained that you can brake
automatically.

Part I: flats

Find a good open area like a parking lot (no traffic, etc.)

Start at one side, skate as fast as you can towards the other side

When you're halfway across, try to brake as fast as possible

Repeat until you can stop with all your weight on the brake. You'll
have to lift your back skate and press into your braking heel.

Part II: hills

Find a reasonable hill that has little or no traffic

Start at the bottom and skate up to the point where you feel comfortable
skating all the way down.

Coast down, braking as needed.

Repeat until you're comfortable with that height. Then do it again, but
from a bit higher up the hill.

The main thing to keep in mind is the leverage, with the pivot at your
braking heel. You want to apply all the pressure into the brake. Also, make sure to lean back slightly, to counter your forward motion.

5. Speed control

You won't always want to stop completely as you coast downhill. Most of the
time you only want to keep your speed at a certain level. To do this, you
want to apply your brakes every 5-10 yards, or even more frequently if you
need to. You can also apply the brake continuously, but at only half-pressure.
If you've practiced your braking in step 1, then this should be no problem.
The idea is that if your speed stays within your comfort zone, you'll
be in much better control.

6. Relax

When you attain braking proficiency and speed control, then being relaxed while you skate downhill should come fairly easy. Being relaxed isn't just some Zen thing or a way to look cool. Keeping relaxed is critical for unanticipated bumps or debris on the road that
could make you trip and wipe out. When you're relaxed your body reflexes can respond better than when you're all tense from fear of wiping out.

Hopefully, when all is said and done, you'll be a much more adept skater
when you've mastered downhill skating. Not only will you be a better skater
overall, since many of the skills will transfer to other skating methods,
but you'll be a much more confident skater.